![cover image](/img/covers/9780807861660.jpg)
Portrait of America
A Cultural History of the Federal Writers' Project
Jerrold Hirsch
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 07/2004
Pages: 312
Subject: History, Political Science
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807861660
DESCRIPTION
Hirsch reviews the founding of the FWP and the significance of its American Guide series, considering the choices made by administrators who wanted to celebrate diversity as a positive aspect of American cultural identity. In his exploration of the FWP's other writings, Hirsch discusses the project's pioneering use of oral history in interviews with ordinary southerners, ex-slaves, ethnic minorities, and industrial workers. He also examines congressional critics of the FWP vision; the occasional opposition of local Federal Writers, especially in the South; and how the FWP's vision changed in response to the challenge of World War II. In the course of this study, Hirsch raises thought-provoking questions about the relationships between diversity and unity, government and culture, and, ultimately, culture and democracy.
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